I can't for the life of me find the article now, but I read somewhere a few weeks ago an actual article that had quotes from his highness Roger that the league was going to start doing everything possible to eliminate as many 10 AM PST games as possible for west coast teams traveling east.

I thought I had dreamt it, so I went back and re-read it and it was really said (I'm paraphrasing). But I think once the NFL made changes at a late time to help the Giants because of their frustration at multiple trips west in consecutive weeks and Sando actually going out and making an issue with STATS to back it up that the 49ers, Seahawks, Chargers, Cards, Raiders, and to a lesser extent the Broncos had traditionally for quite a while played below their expected level in every area of the game when they were playing the early start, and there was much more statistical evidence to prove that point than there was to prove the point of the gripe that the Giants had about traveling West. In fact, many of us pointed out, and Sando repeated that traveling west was less difficult because the games were still played in the prime of the day and so didn't change player's sleep schedules, practice schedules, etc. It was just difficult to travel, but it is equally difficult to travel east as it is to travel west, and considering the stats he used in his argument it looks that it is actually easier to travel west than east due to the time loss.

So... here is my question.... do the Hawks end up with no 10 AM games next year or is it just reducing as many as they can, or is it in a future year, or did I flub it all up. If all games were the 1 o'clock west (2 o'clock my time) game, then I'd be stoked, and give Goodell a ton of credit. I'd love it if he'd eliminate early games and go to more prime time Sunday slots (say 2 or 3 games to pick from in prime time on Sunday night once their SNF contract ends). I know that is the least likely possibility, and the most likely is east coast teams play each other in the early games as it isn't early for them, west coast teams play late on the east coast, and east coast teams play the late game on the west coast and teams don't have to do a cross country trip on the weeks they play a Thursday game.

I think some of these changes could have as positive of an effect as anything the team could do to be honest. I know that for me personally I just never felt right playing games at different times, even in lower level athletics (I never made it pro). But say we had to move our usual Friday night football game up to Wednesday because it was Fall Break week and the whole game just felt all wrong to both teams. We never got in sync it seemed and the fans got jobbed out of seeing a good game typically. However... if they moved that game to Thursday NIGHT instead of Wednesday afternoon then it had way less of an impact (because we were used to playing Friday afternoon). I am glad the NFL is looking at this, and I just want more info on when and how exactly the change is being made, or if it is just in the "exploratory" stage at this point. Because with the change for East Coast teams it was done immediately and expanded out for this season without much "exploration". They griped. They got it changed. I think the Hawks, 9ers, Raiders, Chargers, and the Cards and Broncos (although the last two have a bit more flexibility) should be pushing hard for changes to be made. The Seahawks game at Carolina was entirely different in feel. I think we all remember the Monday nighter in Philly too. It was just different, even in the era where we could not win on the road. The later games just made a huge difference and leveled the playing field.

This has been a peeve of mine for practically ever. There is no reason why it cannot be done, apart from his highness' stubbornness.

Assume a worst case scheduling scenario, where all five Pacific time zone teams are playing in the east on Sunday, four east coast teams have byes, and the TNF SNF & MNF games all involved east coast teams. If all games played by west coast teams were bumped into the later time slot, there are still enough games for CBS and FOX both to offer games in both time slots. Even if all NFCW teams played AFC teams, and there were four NFC teams on their bye week, and all of the TNF SNF & MNF games involved two NFC teams, there would still be plenty of options for FOX to broadcast an early game (to use them as an example).

I really hope you weren't hallucinating.

49ers webzone: Win or lose, i hope you injure Sherman. Like a serious career ending injury. I don't want him to get paid.49ers webzone: noise should not be the overwhelming reason a team is favored. they need to spray noise-damping foam onto the ceiling of that place.

Personally, I wish they'd do it so that I can enjoy my football games in the afternoon, and you'd think the NFL would figure out they'd get more viewership out here if football started in its 'traditional' time slot for our teams. 10AM games suck.

Sarlacc83 wrote:This sounds like the exact opposite of something Goodell would do.

Personally, I wish they'd do it so that I can enjoy my football games in the afternoon, and you'd think the NFL would figure out they'd get more viewership out here if football started in its 'traditional' time slot for our teams. 10AM games suck.

You're looking at it from the wrong angle..........as Deep Throat in All The President's Men said so profoundly, "Follow The Money."

Goodell and the league don't care if the time zones screw up the ability for west and east coast teams to play well going to the opposite coast, he cares about keeping advertisers happy by making sure there are the most eyes possible on as many games as possible. That means an equal amount of morning games as afternoon games. THIS is what dictates start times.

Roger Says: "Several of our teams on the West Coast have raised that and we have been studying it," he said. "We have tried to put as many of those games on the East Coast at 4 p.m. You can imagine the thousands of different issues you have to put into the schedule. But the 10 o'clock starts are pretty tough."

There is a link to the original article which was from the Boston Herald in that post, but the link doesn't work. So I didn't dream it. It's out there.

I think the NFL is coming around to the idea that the west coast teams do have it tough. I think for all of our disagreements and such, that if the NFL doesn't make a change for next year, then the fanbases on the west coast need to push hard together in a concerted effort from all fan bases and ownership groups to force a change. I don't know how to start, but I have actually seen those change.org petitions get noticed when they start getting 100,000 plus names signing them. So that might be a way to start in an effort by all fanbases in Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, and Phoenix (and Denver if they want in too). It's time for this change to happen. You guys both made great points.

I am like you Sarlacc. I can't enjoy a game that early. The NFL is at the point where they can call the shots on when they'll be on TV and the networks will deal with it. I guarantee it. It's not the 1960's anymore.

Not sure about the 10am games but it would make sense; since they did tweak the east to west schedules so if the NFC/AFC east teams play both the NFC/AFC west teams in the same year, they don’t have to travel to Seattle, SF, Oakland, and SD in the same season (poor babies).

It’s harder for them to do the same going the other way because all the east teams are in the same time zone so…

"Est autem fides credere quod nondum vides; cuius fidei merces est videre quod credis." Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.(St. Augustine of Hippo)

FlyingGreg wrote:We did get kinda hooked up a bit this season - two of our East Coast games (Carolina and Buffalo) are 4 pm EDT starts.

And the 2,500 mile flight to Miami comes right after the bye. Sucks that we even have to make that trip, but if we do, at least we had 2 weeks to prepare for it.

Naw, can't get too mad at the schedule this year, but Thursday games as a whole remain an abomination; road team almost ALWAYS loses (unless the home team is an abortion like Carolina or Jax). Home team is 7-3 on Thursday this year. Short week + Travel = bullshit.

This poster officially refuses to recognize SacHawk2.0 as a moderator or authority figure of any description.

Even the traditional Thanksgiving day host teams Dallas and Detroit hold a winning edge in those games. You could say perhaps Dallas was a better team most years, but Detroit was plain bad for a lot of them, with playing at home on Thursdays being the only common denominator….

Edited for accuracy I guess the lions are 33-37-2 for a .472 winning record, but the premise still holds as they have had many more season records below .472 than above (I hope because I didn’t check that fact either )

"Est autem fides credere quod nondum vides; cuius fidei merces est videre quod credis." Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.(St. Augustine of Hippo)

FlyingGreg wrote:We did get kinda hooked up a bit this season - two of our East Coast games (Carolina and Buffalo) are 4 pm EDT starts.

And the 2,500 mile flight to Miami comes right after the bye. Sucks that we even have to make that trip, but if we do, at least we had 2 weeks to prepare for it.

Naw, can't get too mad at the schedule this year, but Thursday games as a whole remain an abomination; road team almost ALWAYS loses (unless the home team is an abortion like Carolina or Jax). Home team is 7-3 on Thursday this year. Short week + Travel = bullshit.

In principle I agree with you, but again, this could be fixed with scheduling. If all TNF games happened after both teams' bye weeks, it wouldn't be an issue. Same with the London game. I think it sucks for a team to lose a home game for that, but it could at least be mitigated if the "home" team had an extra week to prepare, or even an extra week-&-a-half after a TNF game.

For TNF games early in the season, before the bye rotation starts, they could select teams like Eagles/Giants or Ravens/Redskins, teams that could practically walk to the opposing teams' stadiums.

It's nice that we travel to Miami after a bye, even though I'm sure that at this point it has nothing to do with the thoughtful consideration of the scheduler.

49ers webzone: Win or lose, i hope you injure Sherman. Like a serious career ending injury. I don't want him to get paid.49ers webzone: noise should not be the overwhelming reason a team is favored. they need to spray noise-damping foam onto the ceiling of that place.